The Evolution Of Freight Tech Firms

What do you get when you put together an obsolete industry worth trillions of dollar, modern tech such as machine learning and AI, investors that are willing to put in their money for higher returns and a number of people that are adamant to find a solution? The answer is an emerging industry that features one of the leading freight tech firms. Tech logistics have proven to be an indispensable sector with services such as medical device installation where the company’s expertise is required.

On the freight end, partnerships were formed between the CEO and one of the founders of NEXT Trucking, Lidia Uan, CEO and co-founder of Transfix, Drew McElroy, and the CEO and brain behind SwanLeap, Brad Hollister. A discussion was recently spearheaded by the VP of Investment Banking Transportation and Logistics, John Engstrom, and the topic of how they were able to get the capital funding was brought up.

Hollister answered that the business he founded was meant to make money therefore SwanLeap started out as a self-funded venture. He was able to convince the customers to pay for the services he was offering. Yan, on the other hand, admitted that NEXT was not the first startup company she founded. She self-funded the first company but with NEXT she turned to fundraising. She was able to begin after securing $120,000 from a single investment.

McElroy shared that they have no idea that they were already graduating from becoming a startup and even up until now they still consider themselves a startup. Despite being able to overcome the chaos at the beginning, they are still using the same mindset just like when they began. He added that Transfix is currently walking in between the path of a logistics company and a tech startup.

Yan shared that logistics was not her first love but after visiting a family office, she realized a lot of things about the industry which led her to create her very own marketplace wherein the drivers are the center.

After the recent announcement by Amazon, Hollister is positive that it has changed the path for many third parties providing logistics services. Freight tech, at the end of the day, can help accomplish things like medical device installation wherein the logistics provider will also provide the tech services needed.